Sexy City Singles, Desperate Suburban Housewives, and Other Caricatures

A few minutes ago I was driving home from my last appointment of the week, feeling a bit of relief and freedom. The mundane task of driving, and the temporary relief from pressing obligations, gave my mind the freedom to wander. So I let it.

Wander with me for a while.

Funny how these mundane moments allow for some of the best ideas. There's a convergence of thought, when all those loose ideas that have been dangling from the folds of the brain all of a sudden find each other and connect in a way you hadn't thought of before. It's that "A-ha!" moment. My husband had one of those moments five years ago -- while mowing -- when he conceived of a new business that he steered to success. (Since that day, he doesn't have a problem hiring out lots of household chores, but mowing he saves for himself.)

I won't go into detail yet about what the A-Ha moment produced for me today (time will tell if it's successful or not), but after that moment, my mind continued to wander.

For some reason, I started thinking about the TV show Desperate Housewives. I was thinking how each main character is a caricature of qualities that we all possess. Specifically, I was thinking which character most closely resembles ME! (It's more fun to shroud myself in some mystery, so I won't say which one it is. But I'll say this: Of the primary four, it's not Gabrielle. Also not Edie!)

Then I wandered to the four female caricatures from Sex and the City. Which one is most like me? Again, not gonna tell you. (But it's not Miranda.)

Continuing along those lines, I thought of the number 4. What other symbolism can be found in the number 4? There's the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a method of identifying personalities based on four dichotomies. There are four seasons, which also are used as metaphors for stages of life. Four phases of the moon, roughly four weeks in a month, four gospels of the Bible, four sides to a square. Four books in the Twilight series...

What is it about the number 4? Numerologists might give it significance because it's the first composite number. It allows for two sets of pairs.

I think it provides variation without the distraction of too many options. Isn't that what we seek the majority of the time? We like variation to provide respite from monotony. But too many options can lead to a constant spinning of the mental wheels, too much time spent on evaluation of choices, too much chaos. That's fine for occasional circumstances, but not for daily use!

Back to those television characters... From talking with my girlfriends, it seems that most of us can relate mainly to one of the four primary characters in either Sex and the City or Desperate Housewives, although we each possess some qualities of the other characters to a lesser degree.

I know who I am. But who are you?